Claudia had a taste for grilled salmon this weekend, so we cooked a couple of Norwegian steaks on cedar planks on the Genesis. She harvested some dill from her herb garden for seasoning.
I don’t eat flesh, but she and her mom said that it was delicious.
They made a lovely salad and some roasted broccoli to serve along with baked potatoes (also cooked on the gas grill).
Later, we had tapioca pudding with raspberries for dessert.
We served this over spaghetti for Sunday Dinner last weekend. Onions, zucchini, and various bell peppers, seasoned with Kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper and some Italian herbs – nothing could be simpler or more delicious.
Paella is one of those dishes that seem to put everyone in a festive mood. When I first began making it five years ago, I did my best to keep it as authentic as I could, which I thought meant including pork, poultry and shellfish.
As our family moved more and more toward plant-based cooking, I substituted Vegan Chorizo for the pork, but always included shrimp and chicken atop the pan for the folks around the table who still consumed them, thinking that it really wouldn’t be Paella without them.
I was delighted to learn recently that Paella de Verduras is also a traditional dish in Spain. I decided to try this vegetable-only version for supper the last evening that my sons were back in the US for a visit. From start to finish, the meal took about an hour and a half to prepare, so it’s not a quick weeknight meal, but I was still able to pull it off in time to eat at a decent hour even beginning after the work day ended.
Broth for the Rice
Sauté 5 cloves of garlic in some olive oil. Add 3 T of tomato paste and 1 1/2 T paprika and let it caramelize just a bit. Add 2/3 cup of Sherry and a quart of veggie stock. Since I was leaving out clam juice this time to keep things Vegan, I added a splash of apple cider vinegar and some soy sauce to kick up the umami a bit, and then let this boil for a few minutes to bring all the flavors together.
On the Grill
I fired up the Weber Genesis gas grill and started by grilling some strips of Red Bell Pepper, and some chunks of Zucchini and Eggplant that I’d hit with olive oil, salt and ground black pepper. Then I got my Paella Pan good and hot, and sautéed a couple of Spanish Onions in some olive oil. 3 cups of medium grain rice went in next, and then the broth. Once it cooked with the grill closed for 15 minutes, I rotated the pan a quarter of a turn and put the grilled veggies on top. After another 15 minutes, I turned the pan again and topped it with jarred artichoke hearts, some pimiento stuffed olives and frozen peas. From there on, I just checked and rotated the pan every five minutes or so until it looked like things were pretty well done. I grabbed a spoon of rice to check for doneness, and then brought the pan in to rest at table for a little while before we ate.
I think everyone enjoyed this, as there were few leftovers. It was every bit as tasty as the meat and seafood version. The only thing I will change next time is to get a little more seasoning into the broth. Maybe some salt and some red pepper flakes or cumin or somesuch.
Ingredients list is below, in case you want to try it yourself. If you don’t have a Paella pan, you could use a large iron skillet or Dutch Oven and cut the recipe in half or thirds. One of the tricks is to not stir the rice after you add the broth. The dark, almost burnt crusty rice closest to the pan is part of what makes the dish unique and tasty.
Ingredients
¡Buen Apetito!
I love to cook outdoors. Before I quit eating meat, I was obsessed with learning to prepare new recipes on the Weber Kettle and Genesis grills.
I still get emails from Weber, and my first reaction when I received the one with this recipe for Grilled Albondigas with Charred Salsa was “this looks really interesting, too bad it has meat.” I sometimes still forget that there are decent plant-based ground beef alternatives available nowadays.
Meier’s happened to have Beyond Beef on sale for a little over $5 a pound, so we picked up two pounds and adapted the recipe. The meatballs turned out really well. I used a little olive oil in place of the egg. I did use sour cream for the crema, since we haven’t left off dairy yet, but I imagine that you could easily substitute a little nut or oat milk for that.
For the salsa, I used two cans of fire roasted diced tomatoes and seven or eight slices of pickled Jalapeños along with the onion and garlic in the recipe. It turned out great as well.
I’ll have to work on the queso. I followed the recipe pretty much as is, and it came out thick and globby. I really would like to find decent alternatives to dairy cheese, but haven’t experimented enough with the products available to find things that we like yet.
The family, including the carnivores, seemed to like this recipe a lot. Along with a nice green salad, it fed four of us for Sunday Dinner, and there were leftovers enough for one evening meal for Kid this week, and snacks as well.
If I make this again, I’ll probably try it with Impossible Burger, as I like the texture of that product a bit better. Otherwise, the recipe is “a keeper” and something that the entire family can enjoy together, regardless of whether they are meat-eaters or not.
For Sunday Dinner this week we grilled Cedar Planked Salmon, Brussels Sprouts and baked potatoes. Claudia made a nice salad, and baked an incredibly delicious chocolate and peanut butter cake for dessert.
For the salmon, I simply soak the planks in water for a couple hours, then place them on the grill to char a bit before turning them over and setting the salmon on them to cook for maybe 20 minutes. The salmon had been seasoned with Pork Producers seasoning, Old Bay and a sprinkle of Turbinado Sugar. I did the Brussels Sprouts on the plancha with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.
Claudia used a yellow cake mix, adding peanut butter and chocolate to some of the batter, and then drizzling Wilton PB melt over the chocolate frosting.
